Temperature limits to deep subseafloor life in the Nankai Trough subduction zone

Creators: Heuer, Verena B.; Inagaki, Fumio; Morono, Yuki; Kubo, Yusuke; Spivack, Arthur J.; Viehweger, Bernhard; Treude, Tina; Beulig, Felix; Schubotz, Florence; Tonai, Satoshi; Bowden, Stephen A.; Cramm, Margaret; Henkel, Susann; Hirose, Takehiro; Homola, Kira; Hoshino, Tatsuhiko; Ijiri, Akira; Imachi, Hiroyuki; Kamiya, Nana; Kaneko, Masanori; Lagostina, Lorenzo; Manners, Hayley; McClelland, Harry-Luke; Metcalfe, Kyle; Okutsu, Natsumi; Pan, Donald; Raudsepp, Maija J.; Sauvage, Justine; Tsang, Man-Yin; Wang, David T.; Whitaker, Emily; Yamamoto, Yuzuru; Yang, Kiho; Maeda, Lena; Adhikari, Rishi R.; Glombitza, Clemens; Hamada, Yohei; Kallmeyer, Jens; Wendt, Jenny; Wörmer, Lars; Yamada, Yasuhiro; Kinoshita, Masataka; Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe

Abstract

Microorganisms in marine subsurface sediments substantially contribute to global biomass. Sediments warmer than 40°C account for roughly half the marine sediment volume, but the processes mediated by microbial populations in these hard-to-access environments are poorly understood. We investigated microbial life in up to 1.2-kilometer-deep and up to 120°C hot sediments in the Nankai Trough subduction zone. Above 45°C, concentrations of vegetative cells drop two orders of magnitude and endospores become more than 6000 times more abundant than vegetative cells. Methane is biologically produced and oxidized until sediments reach 80° to 85°C. In 100° to 120°C sediments, isotopic evidence and increased cell concentrations demonstrate the activity of acetate-degrading hyperthermophiles. Above 45°C, populated zones alternate with zones up to 192 meters thick where microbes were undetectable.

Additional Information

© 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License. Received 15 July 2020; accepted 13 October 2020. This research used samples and data provided by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). The authors thank IODP and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (MEXT) for providing an opportunity to explore the deep biosphere during Expedition 370. The expedition comprised simultaneous offshore and onshore work, conducted on the drilling vessel DV Chikyu and in the Kochi Core Center (KCC), respectively. We thank all operational and technical staff members on Chikyu and at KCC. In particular, we thank K. Akiyama, K. Aoike, N. Eguchi, M. Kyo, Y. Namba, and T. Sugihara for their knowledgeable support during project design; T. Saruhashi, I. Sawada, and T. Ikawa for successful drilling operations; and the Marine Works Japan, Co. for their technical support. We also thank K. Hagino and N. Tomioka at KCC for their contributions to sediment-age determination and electron microscopic observations, respectively. This is a contribution to the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) and the Earth 4D: Subsurface Science and Exploration, CIFAR. This work was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Strategic Fund for Strengthening Leading-Edge Research and Development (to JAMSTEC and F.I.); the JSPS Funding Program for Next Generation World-Leading Researchers (GR102 to F.I.); JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research JP26251041, JP19H05503, and JP20K20429 (to F.I. and T.Ho.) and JP19H00730 (to Y.M., A.I., and T.Ho.); the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through projects 387745511 (to V.B.H.), 408178672 (to F.S.), 408249062 (to J.K.), 279667358, Hi 616-14-1 (to K.-U.H.), and through the Cluster of Excellence "The Ocean Floor – Earth's Uncharted Interface" (project 390741603), the IODP U.S. Science Support Program (National Science Foundation prime award OCE-1450528 to T.T.), and the Natural Environment Research Council awards NE/P015182/1 and NE/R003408/1 (to S.A.B. and H.M., respectively). Additional support enabling this project was provided by the DCO. Author contributions: K.-U.H., F.I., V.B.H., and Y.M. designed the research; V.B.H., F.I., and Y.M. lead IODP Expedition 370 as co-chief scientists; Y.K. and L.M. coordinated research operations during IODP Expedition 370; V.B.H., F.I., Y.M., A.J.S., B.V., T.T., F.B., F.S., S.T., S.A.B., M.C., S.H., T.Hi., K.H., T.Ho., A.I., H.I., N.K., M.Ka., L.L., H.M., H.-L.M., K.M., N.O., D.P., M.J.R., J.S., M.-Y.T., D.T.W., E.W., Y.Yamam., K.Y., R.R.A., C.G., Y.H., J.K., J.W., and L.W. performed research; Y.Yamad. and M.Ki. provided crucial methods; V.B.H., F.I., Y.M., A.J.S., B.V., T.T., F.B., F.S., S.T., L.W., and K.-U.H. analyzed data; and V.B.H. and K.-U.H. wrote the paper with input from all authors. Competing interests: None. Data availability: All shipboard data are documented and are openly accessible in the IODP Expedition 370 Proceedings (13), with references to the respective tables and figures given in the supplementary materials. All shore-based data are accessible in the PANGAEA database (35).

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